With our health care system still in chaos, a lot of people are worried about what will happen to their coverage – including small business owners and entrepreneurs. Well, if you’re one of these people, you may find some valuable insight on what various SMB owners are currently doing for health care. Take a look at our infographic to see what small business owners are doing in terms of their health coverage.

Retirement planning can be a tedious task, and many people choose to avoid saving for retirement early in their career. They tend to wait until they are more financially stable before opening an IRA or funding their 401k; however, if you wait too long, you may not be able to retire comfortably. This is especially true for entrepreneurs, startup founders, and small business owners.

Business owners state a variety of reasons for why they don’t start saving for retirement. A lot of these reasons are untrue and are considered “retirement myths”. These myths play a large role in why they tend to avoid planning for retirement early on.

So what are some of these retirement myths?

Well, here are the 4 most common entrepreneurial retirement myths that many people believe are reasonable excuses to hold off on their retirement plans.

Let’s face it, failure sucks. No one wants to pursue a goal and come up short. That being said, failing at something is inevitable and everyone faces it sometime in their lives.

This is especially true for entrepreneurs who try to start their own business. Hence, an entrepreneur’s journey is never easy, and failure lingers at every corner. Even the most accomplished entrepreneurs have failed at some point in their career before reaching success. Failure should never be the end of the road, and it should be utilized as a tool for prosperity.

Small business owners have a lot on their hands, when it comes to running their business efficiently. From marketing to accounting, the business owner needs to take care of all of the responsibilities required to keep his business afloat. That being said, these entrepreneurs can’t handle all of the business tasks, there’s just too many responsibilities.

Many sole proprietors try to alleviate some of their responsibilities and hire more staff or outsource their tasks. That way, they can focus more on the core aspects of growing their business, instead of the busy-work that needs to get done.

One of the most common problems that small business owners have is their payroll management. Payroll can be a serious nuisance if you’re trying to grow your business, and there are plenty of aspects about it that entrepreneurs can complain about.

But I’ve narrowed down the 3 most annoying payroll issues that small business owners must deal with. Continue reading →

When I was 5 years old, I remember believing that one day I would be running my own business. I had it all planned out. It was going to be a candy store with all types of chocolates, lollipops, cookies, brownies, s’mores, basically you name it, and I’ll have it. If you couldn’t tell, I probably had the largest sweet tooth in the world.

Besides the fact that I was merely a child when I thought of this idea, I had no clue how to run a business or what I would need to start one. 20 years later, and my vision of one day creating my own candy store is nothing but rubble.

Believe it or not, hiring is similar to dating. At first, you ask general questions to see if he/she has any traits that you’re looking for. Then, after a long period of time (usually), you decide to take the relationship to the next level.

Now, think of the “next level” as the job offer that a business owner makes during the hiring process. Like a relationship, the process of hiring a new employee takes time, energy, and money.

That being said, a lot of employers don’t take recruitment as serious as they should. I’ve heard way too many stories of small business owners who hired a new employee, only to have him/her leave after a couple of months. This is the last thing that any employer would want.

That’s why I’m here to share the 3 biggest hiring blunders you can make for your small business, so you can improve your hiring procedure:

Imagine two different workers in two different industries: Worker A and Worker B.

Worker A is an engineer for a tech company, who works 6 days a week and 10 hours per day. He receives a solid salary with a comprehensive benefits plan from his company, but he only has a week’s worth of paid-time-off, including sick days.

Worker B is a marketing manager for a digital agency, who only works on the weekdays and usually works from 9am-5pm. He also receives a health salary, but not as much as Worker A, and just a 401k plan and health insurance from his agency. However, he does receive two weeks of paid vacation days and 5 paid sick days.